Well that is being too negative. But I guess you kind of saw hints of it when Ezio didn't lose his finger and has to use the blade like a wimp with an open palm. Hell even with the Altair outfit he still holds like that.

I'll still play it and enjoy it alright, but only in the way that I enjoyed the second Matrix movie. Without that HUD/map-less play, the series has lost its most compelling and distinctive feature.

Could someone give me a hint on the glyph which looks like a pentagram? It's in Venice, on top of a tower. It involves a code wheel, and is the second 'round', the first having to do with Edison slandering Tesla The code wheel has lines and dots... Base 3 stuff, but I'm not too sure what they're asking me for.

Really my previous post is all over place and i should have thought it through more. But I was agreeing with Conman. The first game could have been played entirely without a HUD but since most people didn't play it that way they found it too repetitive and boring. Well that and the whole preparation part for the assassination wasn't explianed well and a lot of people missed that one as well. So with the 2nd game now it was made to be more entertaining with the HUD on but now its missing some the things you need to play without a HUD. Which is a step down from the first game.

I know, and it was fun playing without a HUD in the first game, but they literally changed the entire gameplay structure of the game. It's actually very rare to see in a sequel.

Playing without a HUD in AC1 was possible because there was very little you could ultimately do, overall, beyond the main quest. Missions were very limited and identical in nature - every single assassination went through the same steps, so once you learned it once it was just about repeating it.

This time around, there's a lot more variety in both the things you can do in the world, and in the assassinations themselves, so more interface feedback to the player in terms of icons and such is a lot more beneficial now than in AC1.

I do wish there was a way to turn the glow/shimmer off, though, like you could with Bioshock.

Originally Posted by Lostconfused

Edit: But I also think its the architecture and the lay out of the cities, some of them are a lot less distinct now and have less landmarks and reference points for navigation.

I feel the complete opposite, honestly. I've been seeing a lot more unique landmarks in AC2, and the different cities both look and feel very different, much moreso in my view than in the first. They're also a lot more organic in their design and atmosphere - they feel lived-in this time around.

I suppose it may depend on how familiar you are with Renaissance architecture. It's been a while since I studied it, but a lot of the landmarks in the game are visually reminiscent to me.

I'll still play it and enjoy it alright, but only in the way that I enjoyed the second Matrix movie. Without that HUD/map-less play, the series has lost its most compelling and distinctive feature.

Ok i can see that. Because i did feel let down the over all narrative in this game. But then again I also liked the 2nd and the 3rd matrix movies, so i dunno if anyone would want to care about my opinions.

Originally Posted by Mana Sin

Could someone give me a hint on the glyph which looks like a pentagram? It's in Venice, on top of a tower. It involves a code wheel, and is the second 'round', the first having to do with Edison slandering Tesla The code wheel has lines and dots... Base 3 stuff, but I'm not too sure what they're asking me for.

All of those wheels have to do with the way you count, or count something.

So by base three means that the numbers on the wheel go, 1 = DOT, 2 = DOT DOT, 3 = LINE and then 4 = LINE DOT. And so forth if you can figure it out. A trinary number system, they way it works is that it represents numbers with 3 characters. Seriously just google how binary numbering works if this doesn't help you enough because i am too lazy to type up all the powers and such. It should explain everything

Originally Posted by Zeliard

I feel the complete opposite, honestly. I've been seeing a lot more unique landmarks in AC2, and the different cities both look and feel very different, much moreso in my view than in the first. They're also a lot more organic in their design and atmosphere - they feel lived-in this time around.

I suppose it may depend on how familiar you are with Renaissance architecture. It's been a while since I studied it, but a lot of the landmarks in the game are visually reminiscent to me.

I would argue that this depends entirely on your experience with the architecture of that specific time and place. I was merely commenting on the fact that the cities were more sprawling and it might be harder to find your way around in the smaller less distinctive streets or parts of the city.

I also know that the story missions in this game wouldn't work without a HUD, at least the way they did them. I am just saying those missions are not necessarily an improvement or made the game any better.

All of those wheels have to do with the way you count, or count something.

So by base three means that the numbers on the wheel go, 1 = DOT, 2 = DOT DOT, 3 = LINE and then 4 = LINE DOT. And so forth if you can figure it out. A trinary number system, they way it works is that it represents numbers with 3 characters. Seriously just google how binary numbering works if this doesn't help you enough because i am too lazy to type up all the powers and such. It should explain everything

I get the pattern, but inputting the direct conversion from number to dot/line doesn't seem to be the right code. What I'm trying to figure out is if there is a shift in the code wheel, but finding that out seems to be impossible for me. Normally the pictures would offer a huge hint if you look hard enough, but I have an SD tv... So if there is anything there, there's not a snowball's chance in hell I could make it out.

I get the pattern, but inputting the direct conversion from number to dot/line doesn't seem to be the right code. What I'm trying to figure out is if there is a shift in the code wheel, but finding that out seems to be impossible for me. Normally the pictures would offer a huge hint if you look hard enough, but I have an SD tv... So if there is anything there, there's not a snowball's chance in hell I could make it out.

Oh that yea, the shift is 2, you have to align it with 2. The 2 is on the car in the left picture. And i think its the Line Line Dot, or Line Line Dot Dot in the news paper print to the left of the headline

But they are going to get even harder later on, so be ready to look up solutions online.

So I've got a couple new ideas for trying to play HUD-less and map-less (one uses building names, and the other uses Eagle Vision). I'll give them a shot later tonight and let you all know what I find.

Also, you can turn off most of the map markers. I seem to be able to turn all of them off except for the main one. Is there a way to turn off the primary mission marker as well?

Oh that yea, the shift is 2, you have to align it with 2. The 2 is on the car in the left picture. And i think its the Line Line Dot, or Line Line Dot Dot in the news paper print to the left of the headline

But they are going to get even harder later on, so be ready to look up solutions online.

Q: I finished the assassin tomb in the douma(sp?) but noticed something else in there that was collectable near the end but didn't want to risk falling to get it. Anybody know what it is? Just a chest or was it a feather?

I was doing the gondola escort mission, and was doing fine until we got to the docks. Thinking we were done, I decided it would be bad ass to hop onto the gondola and join my allies. Bad Idea. They somehow flew off the gondola and died, and thus my mission ended in a failure :'(

Thought I was the only one. I made it up to them the second go around by throwing all the archers off the piers.

And I just want to echo the general sentiment around here, AC franchise is finally a game. Missions feel like missions and not just auto-pilot set pieces and assassinations have become their own separate sidequest, one that really lets you put your skills to use without plot-constraints. AC1 combat was fun but simplistic and AC2 ups your options exponentially while adding in new enemy types. Disarming enemies and killing them with their own weapons is the only way I approach fights now.

I don't know how to feel about the changes made to make combat easier though, i.e. being about to block while unarmed or with hidden blades. It was the inability to block or attack with the hidden blades in AC1 that had made every fight so intense since you had to earn those visceral counter kills.

Originally Posted by X26

Q: I finished the assassin tomb in the douma(sp?) but noticed something else in there that was collectable near the end but didn't want to risk falling to get it. Anybody know what it is? Just a chest or was it a feather?

It's a chest and counts as a secret location on the DNA strand. It's actually right before the top, in the last antechamber (architect GAF, don't kill me) with the chandelier.

I'm on one of the glyph puzzles right now... and I can't seem to progress.

I think it's the one called 'The Bunker' and the hint is "Right... This one is tricky. There must be something distinctive about those shapes. Something on them we can count."

There's a "<" on the pic with the tank, but other than that nothing else.

Well you count the number of angles on the shapes so < has 1 angle and a square has 4. But the number, hmm i don't quiet remember the number. Its either 1 or 3 or whatever, its either the number of soldiers in the picture or just the 1 tank i think. There is another one where the the number doesn't appear in a picture but in the text that fades in and out in the background. Unless its 0 but i am pretty sure there is no 0 on the number wheel.

I tried "<" as 3 and 1 still no dice. I tried counting the lines on the shapes, but that doesn't work either. Then the corners. Blaaarg

< = 4. Its hard to tell because the 4 is just in the background. That said, you can figure it out even without the pictures because there is only one spot on the wheel where two of the numbers given are blank on the red wheel. That goes for all the 'figure out the missing symbol' wheels.

This puzzle is still fairly easy because the symbols still go in order from 0-9, based on the number of angles.

Question. There's a viewpoint in Venice that I can't seem to climb. It's some huge church. I get up pretty far but then get to a point that I can't climb higher. Do I get something later that lets me come back and climb it? Or am I just missing something obvious?

Question. There's a viewpoint in Venice that I can't seem to climb. It's some huge church. I get up pretty far but then get to a point that I can't climb higher. Do I get something later that lets me come back and climb it? Or am I just missing something obvious?

Have you learn the Climb Leap move yet? If you're in Venice you'll learn it soon anyways. This lets you jump while climbing and you'll be able to reach any viewpoint or place after that.

Is there anyone out there that would possibly want to trade versions for the "exclusive" map codes for the Collector's Edition?

I bought the PS3 version of the Master Assassin's edition from Gamestop because I couldn't find a 360 version in stock anywhere. I didn't preorder the game so I was limited to buying a copy that someone didn't pick up yet. They had a couple PS3 versions left so I decided to pick it up to get the extra useless goodies. The only things I can't use are the 2 extra maps that come with the special edition, since I want to play the game on 360. I'm not going to use the PS3 version of the game, maybe I'll try to sell it back or something.

So basically I want to trade the 2 PS3 map codes for the 360's version. Heck, I don't even need the regular Palazzo Medici one since I already have the regular 360 edition from Gamestop. I'd trade both Palazzo Medici and Santa Maria Dei Frari for just the Santa Maria Dei Frari on 360.

If anyone is interested, hit me up with a PM. Don't know if anyone out there is as weird as me yet somehow did the exact opposite, of getting the 360 limited edition yet wanting PS3 codes, but doesn't hurt to throw it out there.

Maybe this is the reason Assassin’s Creed has so many defenders: they haven’t actually finished the game yet, because they don’t want to rush through it. They’re still on the first level, and they’ve decided the “real” way to play it is, you can’t do an investigation until you count every brick on the nearest building ten times.

Silly me, I thought I was exaggerating for humorous effect. Because days later, somebody decided that the REAL way to play AC1 was to turn off all of the HUD markers and poke your way around the game blind until you found the missions. This, they said, was what the designers intended.

The fact that these lunatics now seem to be the only people who are dissatisfied with AC2 is delicious irony, like sipping from a delicate crystal goblet full of bitter tears.

Silly me, I thought I was exaggerating for humorous effect. Because days later, somebody decided that the REAL way to play AC1 was to turn off all of the HUD markers and poke your way around the game blind until you found the missions. This, they said, was what the designers intended.

The fact that these lunatics now seem to be the only people who are dissatisfied with AC2 is delicious irony, like sipping from a delicate crystal goblet full of bitter tears.

Wasn't the whole "modern day" angle at the beginning of the game meant to justify why the map and map markers are there in the first place? I'm pretty sure that's the way the developers intended the game to be, especially because they're on by default.

Silly me, I thought I was exaggerating for humorous effect. Because days later, somebody decided that the REAL way to play AC1 was to turn off all of the HUD markers and poke your way around the game blind until you found the missions. This, they said, was what the designers intended.

The fact that these lunatics now seem to be the only people who are dissatisfied with AC2 is delicious irony, like sipping from a delicate crystal goblet full of bitter tears.

I think the irony is that the game is still pretty much the same.

Originally Posted by Balb

I'm pretty sure that's the way the developers intended the game to be, especially because they're on by default.

Except they also made the game in such a way that you can play it entirely without the HUD. Of course that was entirely unintentional and strange occurrence.

If anything, I would like to be able to reduce the SIZE of the HUD. I think the Health meter especially could be reduced significantly clearing up much of the screen. I don't mind playing with the HUD on, but when it's obtrusive it can get to be a hassle. Otherwise, I'm really enjoying the game. I am probably going to start a second play-through tonight just because I miss having something that NEEDS to be done. Take it slow this time.

Wasn't the whole "modern day" angle at the beginning of the game meant to justify why the map and map markers are there in the first place? I'm pretty sure that's the way the developers intended the game to be, especially because they're on by default.

Everything inside of the Animus is specifically and purposefully designed, Matrix-style - every single thing you see and experience in it, including the actual options menu itself, is a "part" of the Animus program. Desmond is seeing all of it as well, along with the player.

There's even a related storyline reason as to why there's a mix of Italian and English-language dialogue.